Tackling Today’s Puzzle
Okay, so I sat down with the New York Times crossword earlier. Pretty standard morning routine for me. Most of it was going smoothly, filling in the blanks, feeling pretty smart, you know?
Then I hit this clue: “eruption from a geyser”. Seemed simple enough at first glance. My mind immediately jumped to things like water shooting up.
First Thoughts and Stumbles
So, what comes out of a geyser? Steam, right? That was my first instinct. I mentally checked the letter count needed. Looked like it needed four letters. Okay, `STEAM` fits that. But then I looked at the crossing clues I already had filled in. The ‘T’ worked, but the second letter wasn’t an ‘E’. Drat. Back to square one.
What else erupts? Maybe Spray? Nope, too long. Spout? Also too long. I started thinking about the action itself. What does the water do?
Using the Crosses
I had a couple of letters already in place from the ‘down’ clues. Let’s see, it looked like _ U _ H. Okay, that helps a lot. What four-letter word starts with something, has a ‘U’, then something else, and ends in ‘H’?
And it has to mean an eruption, like from a geyser. A sudden burst of water.
Getting the Answer
I stared at _ U _ H for a minute. Then it just sort of clicked. Like when something comes out fast and strong. A Gush. Yeah, that sounded right. G-U-S-H.
I penciled it in. Checked it against the clue again: “eruption from a geyser”. Yep, a gush fits perfectly. Checked it against the crossing letters I had. The ‘U’ was already there, and the ‘H’ fit the down clue I was working on too. Perfect.
Felt good to finally nail that one down. Sometimes it’s the ones that seem obvious at first that trip you up the most. On to the next clue!
